Purple berries, fall festivities

I have written quite a bit about fall color lately; it is hard to contain my excitement for the caravan of color the fall brings.

SHARMA HOWARD

I have written quite a bit about fall color lately; it is hard to contain my excitement for the caravan of color the fall brings.

One way to insert fall color into your landscape is to remember the berries. Right now, berries, especially viburnum, add that zing of color. If I had the space, I would add the viburnum ‘Blue Muffin’ to my fall color scape.

But I need to be content with the other unusal fall berry I have: the neon purple berries of the callicarpa, or beauty bush, shrub.

The branches on this shrub are long and arching, and the leaves pointed; smaller than the sumac, but similar in appearance.

Small pink flowers that attract bees come in the spring, but the true show-stopping quality of this shrub begins in September when the berries emerge.

It is best to plant this shrub against a backdrop, and in clusters so that the airiness isn’t lost in the landscape.

Purple is the contrast color to orange, so while I don’t have this planted near a fall-turning plant like a Sugar Maple, I can only imagine the effect.

It does have a tendency to sprawl, so a brisk pruning in the spring is recommended.

This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, all Hart’s Greenhouse & Florist stores will be having fall festivals. I recently bought a beautiful fall wreath from Hart’s, where you stop and get those festive touches for fall - from pumpkins to cornstalks.

Rubrum grasses are also there ( and look gorgeous) they would be excellent in fall containers.